This Lawless Love [wlw]

Chapter Two: Icy Blue

The rest of the day went by uneventfully, fortunately. Almenira's eyes burned as she fought to keep them open and she suffered mini hallucinations because of it. As she trudged home from the train station, she began to think that maybe Mei-Song was right.

How much trouble can one little confrontation get her in with Professor Goldberg?

Turns out, a lot, and she knew that the second she saw a new notification from her professor in her inbox when she powered on her PC.

Students,

Seeing as the semester is coming to a close, I have a personal and professional obligation to make sure grades reflect the efficiency of our learning objective. I am making the decision to inflate the worth of today's quiz so that it counts as an assessment which those of you who bothered to read the syllabus will know is 45% of the final grade.

All grades are final.

Professor Goldberg

The email made two things very clear to her;

1)Her grade was absolutely fucked.
2)She would absolutely be crucified by her classmates.

Well, maybe not Lindsey and Hilton who were the only two people who's grades touched an A- and that's because Almenira was pretty sure they were either blackmailing Professor Goldberg, trading favors, or just really good at economics class and the cut throat tests that came with it.

Unlikely to be the latter since Almenira heard rumors of 2.4 GPAs in high school and a certain aunt that was good friends with the college Dean.

Ignoring her ringing phone from across the room, knowing it was no doubt Mei-Song calling to freak out over the email, Almenira simply powered off the computer and resigned herself to sulking in the dark.

She didn't even want to see the inevitable notification that would inform her that her grade was now a shameful D at best.

At one point after she hurried herself into her fortress of pillows, tears began to dampen the fabric. She didn't even realize until an involuntary sob sputtered out pitifully.

The only reason she was able to go to the college of her dreams was because her mother's stupid, stupid husband agreed to pay the difference of tuition her scholarships didn't cover.

It wasn't until the summer before she started her freshman year did he drop the bomb that she had to switch her major to finance and keep up a near 4.0 GPA or else good luck on her own.

By that time, Almenira had no other alternatives that wasn't dropping out or burying herself in massive student loans. She had tried to secretly switch back her major to design once she was enrolled but there was no way to do so without her step-father somehow being informed.

Even the house she cried in now was being paid for by the narcissistic a-hole and therefore, in danger of being snatched away.

Despite being 19, Almenira felt no different inside of than she did when she was 14. One moment she's sporting pigtails and Monster High T-shirts and then the next thing she knew she was walking down a stage to receive her high school diploma with  the reality of adulthood opening its daunting jaws to swallow her whole.  Now, feeling more like a child than ever, she's surviving on her own (if she can even dare to say so) states away from anyone she was familiar with.

Just as Almenira was reaching the peak of her pity party, her doorbell rang. Her head shot up a little too quickly, causing her to go lightheaded for a moment. She didn't need to glance in a mirror to know she looked as shitty as she felt.